The Mummy: Trapped in Paradise

28/07/25

An argument could be made for the classic Brenden Fraser film to be called the greatest adventure movie ever, or at least on this side of Indiana Jones. It just kind of has everything - pulpy, silly charm, genuinely great action, fantastic chemistry between pretty much it’s entire cast; there’s almost nothing (personally, at least) to criticize. So whilst I had no idea that The Mummy: The Animated Series actually existed, it doesn’t surprise me that a video game adaptation popped up on the Game Boy Advance specifically of the cartoon series. Now, The Mummy for the GBA isn’t awful, especially at first glance; it’s a genuinely a great looking game, some of the best of the third party offerings in the early days of the Game Boy Advance, and it’s gameplay loop, whilst not exciting, is fun enough to fill an hour or two. But its inability to keep itself fresh and interesting - mostly due to the game’s ridiculously glacial place and over repetition - turns this otherwise decent experience into a snorefest.

In the 90s and early 2000s, it felt like everything - live action and cartoon alike - got a cartoon spin-off to continue its story. Whilst Disney are most famous for this, having a ton of their movies spun-off into cartoon continuations that were genuinely quite fantastic - Lilo and Stich being a highlight - there were a decent amount beyond the Big Mouse. Stuff like the animated Godzilla or King Kong series or, apparently, The Mummy. Despite being a pretty decent fan of the original two The Mummy films, I genuinely had no idea that it got a follow-up sequel series, though the general format of the show - Rick and Evie have had a child, who has access to wacky magic powers, and this as a family partake in increasingly wackier adventures - is far less so. I dunno, if I’d watched it as a kid I probably would’ve adored it, but now that I’m pushing thirty the premise seems so overplayed and generic.

This extends to the premise of the video game adaptation of The Mummy: The Animated Series - less generic, and more just a framing device for an easily-digestible, action-paced adventure. The O’Connell family receive word that the greatest evil of Ancient Egypt, a foe they defeated twice in cinematic form, Imhotep, has apparently returned. He’s after some book, the McGuffin of the game, and the O’Connell’s have to beat him to them lest the world is plunged into danger once more. There’s really not that much story in the game, with the bulk of it only at the start, and the pace it’s delivered is genuinely hilarious. We open with Rick receiving the news that trouble is going down Egypt, fully informed of the dangerous, gigantic scorpions popping up… and says, “Consider me in, along with my family of course!”. There’s nothing wrong with the line, don’t get me wrong, but there’s something so clunky about it providing a reason as to why the whole O’Connell family is coming, and Rick’s apparent enthusiasm about putting his child in danger that just sent me cackling for no reason whatsoever. This is 100% not a story heavy game, but the way to get you in so quickly really got me.

Once you’re in, The Mummy follows a pretty simple gameplay loop which takes place across a number of ‘zones’ across Egypt. In each zone, you’ll play as the entire family of the O’Connell family, exploring a specific area with its own bespoke tombs and caves and whatnot. Your general goal is to access each of the major, larger tombs, which require specific gem-like keys to open, conquer the enemies and puzzles within to find the key to the next major tomb or the McGuffin that’ll unlock the next area as a whole. It’s simple, satisfying, and to the point. It’s not going to make you *feel* like a swashbuckling adventurer, but it does a decent job of putting you in the boots of the O’Connell family. But yeah, I rather like exploring the major tombs within the game; there’s enough variety of little puzzles and combat encounters to keep each tomb feeling fresh, though as the game progresses the puzzles will grow a little more complicated, requiring you to return to previous tombs in that zone and dealing with the same enemies you encountered that time. Exploring them for the first time, with unsolved puzzles and unfought enemies - is when they’re at their best, but due to backtracking and other pacing-related issues, they are a case of diminishing returns.

There is nothing inherently wrong with the structure and general loop of The Mummy’s gameplay in a vacuum; exploring each little zone like a genuine archelogist, scampering through tombs hunting for their treasure, that’s quite fun, but the way The Mummy tackles these loops kills any enthusiasm I have to try and finish the game up. Chiefly, it’s the pace of the game - the literal pace, in how fast the characters and enemies move, and the overall progression of the game.

I cannot overstate how these pacing issues that make up much of my issues with this game. Coupling the genuinely large tombs and locales the O’Connel family traverse with just how damn slow they move grinds any momentum in this game to a crawl. At least on the way into an area you’ll have enemies to dance around and little puzzles to deal with, but on the way out? You’ve got literal minutes of *nothing* happening whatsoever, just moving through room after room, probably using Evie’s roll for the placebo of feeling like you’re moving ever so slightly faster. And I’m pretty sure it’s nothing more than that - a placebo. I could’ve put up with this glacial pace if it was the only major pacing issue, but if you happen to die in this game - which happens when all three of the O'Connell's run of HP - whilst you won’t lose any major progress, you’ll have to resolve any puzzles and re-defeat any enemies, drawing the already slow experience even longer. And as I said before, at first it’s not too much of an issue since initially each tomb is a one-and-done experience, but having to run back through previous tombs to open new doors or whatnot with your new keys, slowly, whilst dealing with the same enemies and puzzles… It really kills any motivation to keep going. And this is made even worse by the fact that this ramps up the further you get into the game.

Running - again, slowly - through the same ol’ tombs also doesn't help that the game doesn’t do much to reinvent itself as the game draws on. Once you’ve completed the first ‘zone’, you’ve pretty much done everything the game has on offer. Find gems to enter major tombs, which you’ll locate further gems to open further tombs, eventually locating whatever McGuffin will allow you to progress to the next zone within the sands of Egypt. Sure, you’ll get a new kind of puzzle here and there, but it’s rare they’ll ever be something that’ll particularly blow your mind or anything, and by the time I entered the game’s third zone, around the halfway point of the game, I really did feel like I’d seen everything The Mummy had on offer.

The repetition is offset, ever so slightly, by the fact that the combat in the game is solid, if somewhat uninteresting. Each member of the O’Connel’s have the basic ability to strike the decent variety of foes they’ll encounter within the tombs of Egypt, but each member also has a unique combat ability to mix things up. Rick’s attacks are a little stronger, yet slower, but he also has the ability to toss dynamite both to clear pathways and deal devastating damage to enemies, with the caveat they’re rather rare to find. Evie is similar, but at the other end of the spectrum; she can obtain large amounts of throwing sticks that she can dish out rapidly for lower damage. But it’s Rick and Evie’s son, Alex, who has the most interesting moveset. Being the smallest and weakest, his basic attacks leave a bit to be desired, but these are made up by his ability to use magical abilities. At first, he can only do basic energy blasts, but upon interacting with Chozo-esque statues, can learn more powerful and large-scale abilities, which are capable of devastating entire rooms of enemies and are pretty much your go-to for dealing with the tankiest of the O'Connell's foes. The combat is still pretty mindless at the best of time, but it has the kind of pacing of a subpar beat’em up; that’s maybe not the best endorsement I could give, but with how sauceless combat can be in more atrocious licensed titles like this, having mediocre combat with some fun bells and whistles is a massive upside to me.

And I also want to give the game credit in being a genuinely good-looking title, especially as a licensed tie-in to a TV series in the early days of the handheld. Presented with a top-down perspective, The Mummy’s graphics aren’t super in-depth, but has a wonderful sense of aesthetics that gives every open area it’s own unique feel whilst still keeping the overall vibe of, uh, Egypt. It’s bright and colourful, and from the scant clips of the animated series I checked out it seems to be a really lovingly made adaptation of the show - hats off. Audio-wise, I really don’t have much to say - it’s certainly not bad in any sense of the word, but beyond thinking ‘Yup, that’s certainly the theme for a tomb’, it didn’t really make any impression on me. There was, however, something about the aesthetics of the intro, having black title cards with a ringing phone, coupled with the sound of the rain… fantastic stuff. Like a lot of elements of the game, the aesthetic nature of The Mummy can begin to wear out their welcome sooner than later, but they’re 100% the part of the game that remained the most refreshing for the longest time.

Overall, whilst I think the brutal pace of the game, made far worse by the slow movement of our player characters, there is a pretty decent foundation to this game. As I’ve said before, one of the hardest things about writing for the Game Boy Abyss is giving these games a fair shake whilst knowing that I’m 100% not the audience for it. Not just now, two decades on when game design has advanced by leaps and bounds, but also I probably wouldn’t have been its audience as a child, either, so I really gotta call it how I see it. There is absolutely a good game down here - exploring the tombs, especially for the first time, can be a lot of fun, and the way they incorporated the different skills of the members of the O’Connell family is pretty decent. But the generally weak pacing, coupled with the repetition that sets in once you reach the midpoint of the game doesn’t do it any favours. The Mummy is the kind of game that I imagine some look back on quite fondly, and if I played it twenty years ago? Maybe I’d be one of those people, but in 2025, it’s a genuinely attractive game worth a fleeting detour, nothing more.

Thank you so much for reading my review of The Mummy on the Game Boy Abyss! Genuinely found this review tough to write for reasons I really can’t work out, but we made it. Next week we’ll be taking a look at one of the most obscure - as far as I can tell, at least - non-Japanese only titles on the GBA. As always, you can email me at mgeorge7003@hotmail.com or cckaiju@gmail.com if you have any questions or requests. Until then, see you around!